capacitor
/kəˈpæ.sə.tɚ/noun
capacitor is spelled C-A-P-A-C-I-T-O-R: 9 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, capacitor means “An electronic component capable of storing electrical energy in an electric field; especially one consisting of two conductors separated by a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of capacitor is capacitors.
How many letters and syllables are in capacitor?
| Letters | 9: C-A-P-A-C-I-T-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 23,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is capacitor?
Capacitor appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce capacitor?
- UK /kəˈpæ.sɪ.tə/
- US /kəˈpæ.sə.tɚ/
Capacitor has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-capacitor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of capacitor
- capacitors plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does capacitor mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An electronic component capable of storing electrical energy in an electric field; especially one consisting of two conductors separated by a dielectric.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Capacitor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense electronic component:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | condensateur |
| German | Kondensator |
| Portuguese | condensador, capacitor |
| Spanish | condensador, capacitor |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does capacitor come from?
From capacity + -or. Capacitor replaced the term condenser (coined by Alessandro Volta in 1782) to disambiguate it from steam condenser. The coiner is unknown but the change was recommended in 1926 by British Standard Glossary of Terms in Electrical Engineering.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).